Morning Call columnist Bill White had a piece earlier in the week where he lamented that Bobo the dunking clown was no longer at the fair. Although that's about as funky as it got for Bill in his era, we older Allentonians remember much hotter nights at the fairgrounds. Up to the late sixties the fair had girly shows. I'm going back to the era of Gooding's Million Dollar Midway and Benny's Bingo. I'm going back to three midways packed between the Farmer's Market and Chew Street. I'm going back to when the fair only started after Labor Day.
I mentioned in one of my previous fair posts that Fred Schoenk and I made and sold printed t-shirts at the fairs during high School. At the Kutztown Fair we were hired by the burlesque show owner to letter a new banner for his show tent...as high school boys we would have paid him for the experience.
reprinted from September of 2018
photocredit:molovinsky...Black rock and roll review with strippers, 1969 Allentown Fair
I was born and raised in Allentown, and have attended the Fair every year for as long as I can remember. This year, however, I’m not excited about it and might not be going.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed in the past when they took away “Free Night” (admission-wise) on the opening Tuesday. That gradually became “free” with a canned good for the local food bank; then “free” night became discount night, where you had to pay no matter if you brought a can or not. This year, there wasn’t even a Tuesday night to the Fair.
In the last few years I’ve also seen many longtime food vendors disappear as the Fair brought in more of the standard vendors that travel from fair to fair.
The result? The Great Allentown Fair is becoming just another carnival, with less and less that’s unique to it.
This year, they’re apparently squeezing local food vendors even more by not allowing them to sell sodas. I guess that only the Fair’s approved vendors can sell a sugary drink.
To me it’s clear that the Fair is more concerned about getting every last dollar, and those dollars ultimately come from those attending. But it’s going to come at a cost beyond that as well, if they end up losing more local vendors.
The bottom line is that there’s less and less value to the Fair, and I have to think that given the difficult economic times many families might be making a choice to go elsewhere. If I go, it will likely be one night and not the multiple nights I’ve gone in past years.
I’d hate to see that happen and maybe I’m an outlier. A good weather forecast and the return of a decent lineup of grandstand shows would indicate that it could be a very profitable year for the Fair.
But I can’t help but feeling that what made the fair “Great” has been slowly getting phased out and worry that the short term measures to pump up their bottom line will eventually be the Fair’s undoing.
Hopefully I’m wrong.
Michael, Well, The Great Allentown Fair is in the books for 2023. The wife and I went over on Saturday night with another couple. Luckily we got some freebie tickets from a stock holder!
ReplyDeleteHere are my observations… Looked like a good crowd walking in from the Liberty Street gate near Ag Hall. Checked out the Ag Hall displays… 4-H, crafts, bake goods, canning, quilting, antiques, photography. Noticed not a lot of vendors in the hall and the crowd was small. Went outside to check out the animals. Decent amount of livestock… but no pigs??? Nice crowd! Lots of smiles!
Stopped to talk to some food vendors. Not only was the temperature HOT on Saturday… so were the vendors. Was told how the Fair Hierarchy ruled that the vendors couldn’t sell sodas and water. I did notice the Not-So-Fair-Soda tents had the latest in technology cash registers, and upright refrigerator coolers. Felt bad for the different groups like Mountainville Memorial, that looks forward to the fair as a fund raiser. Noticed that the crowd at the Grandstand was VERY SPARSE! Stands on the East side of the Fair seemed to be slow. Midway seemed to be busy, and so were the thrill rides. Walked through the Farmers Market… Wow! No Man’s Land! Dan’s Barbecue Chicken, Mink’s Candy and Charlie K’s Pizza, plus a few stragglers.
Things that I missed at the Fair… Bobo the Clown hurling insults on either end of the midway, the Indian rope ladder, the mallet striker, the Freak Shows, the Motorcycle riders in the cage, The Double Ferris Wheel, The cages that you would get four guys into and thru shear muscle you would swing back and forth as a team to move it in a complete circle, The Mighty Adam, and finally The Hoochy Coochy Girls. “New Orlean’s Review”
Ach Vell! There’s always next year.